Ethnography

11/05/2016

Zora and Wilma from the Smithsonian National Zoological park are ready to celebrate!

Did you know that today, November 5, is the first National Bison Day since the bison was declared the Nation’s Mammal? Just a few months ago, the National Bison Legacy Act was passed establishing and adopting the bison as the first National Mammal of the United States.

Since 2012, the first Saturday in November has commemorated the North American Bison (also known as the American Buffalo) by honoring its contribution to North American ecology, history, and culture. We at Roger’s Archaeology Lab would like to celebrate with you by sharing the significance of the bison to the historical and archaeological records we study here at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH).

Before we go into the history of the bison and our collections, here are a few fun facts:

Bison are the largest mammal in North America, with bulls (males) weighing up to 2,000 pounds and cows (females) up to 1,000 pounds.

Bison can grow up to 6 feet tall and 12 feet long.

A baby bison is called a “red dog” because they are born with a coat of red fur. The coat turns brown after a few months.

Bison can run up to 30 mph, jump up to 6 feet high, and can swim well too.

Bison humps are made of muscle which helps them to plow through snow with their heads.

Bison are herbivores and eat about 1.6 percent of their body mass a day.

The bison have lived continuously at Yellowstone National Park since prehistoric times.

Bison have good hearing and sense of smell, but they are also nearsighted.

When bison tails are pointing down it signifies calmness. When the tails are pointing up, they might aggressively charge!

Bison (Bison bison) and buffalo are not the same animal but the name is used interchangeably. Buffalo actually live in Africa and Asia -- African Cape Buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and the Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and have stark physical differences to the bison.

Millions of bison roamed the American Plains when the first Europeans arrived in the area. Early population estimates were as high as hundreds of millions, but the actual number in the 18th century was probably closer to 30 million (Isenberg 2000, p. 23-28).

The bison was integral to the lives of the various Native peoples who lived on the Plains throughout prehistoric and “historic” times. Bison meat provided food (fresh, dried, or made into pemmican). Bison skin, hair, bones, sinew, and fat were used for many purposes, including the manufacture of clothing, bedding, housing (teepees and other tents), bull boats, bags, shields, drums, rope, thread, bow string, tools, ornaments, etc. Considering the sustaining presence of the bison and bison products in daily life, it is not surprising that it also featured in the spiritual lives of certain Native peoples.

“Bison Dance of the Mandan”. Karl Bodmer. From "Maximilian, Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832–1834" by Prince Maximilian of Wied , Publisher: Ackermann & Co., 1839, via Wikimedia Commons.

Bison numbers dwindled due to overhunting during the 19th century. Around the middle of the century, the fur trade companies exhausted supplies of beaver and other fur-bearing animals, and the trade turned its focus to bison. Bison hides and robes were traded in large numbers to be sold on the east coast and elsewhere. A bison “robe” is a cured bison hide with the hair still on it. These were harvested in the late fall/early winter, when the hair grew long, but was still “fresh”. Robes could be made into coats or blankets. Bison hides taken during other times of year (or from older animals) were mostly made into leather and turned into drive belts to be used in factories across the industrializing world (See Hornaday 2002 [1889], p. 438-441 for data on numbers of hides purchased by two leading New York fur houses).

"The Far West - Shooting buffalo on the line of the Kansas - Pacific Railroad.” 1871. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. Via Library of Congress.

Hunting by the fur trade certainly contributed to the near-extinction of the American bison. However, there were other important factors. US settlement and ranching destroyed habitat and introduced disease. Military leaders, engaged in warfare against several of the Plains tribes, actively sought to destroy bison herds to disrupt their traditional way of life. Displacing the bison also benefitted railroad companies in obtaining land, and preventing bison herds from interfering with railroad operations. The presence of railroad tracks across the plains further threatened the bison by subdividing their habitat. Railroad lines also made it easier and cheaper to transport bison products across the country. Finally, railroad companies organized sport hunting expeditions, during which bison were shot from trains. With bison carcasses left all over the Plains, trade in bison bones grew into a big business. Bones were mostly ground up and made into fertilizer (for more details, and other factors involved in the near-extinction of the American bison in the 19th century, see Hornaday 1889, Isenberg 2000, and Smits 1994).

The American Bison came very close to total extinction. Only a few hundred were estimated to be left alive at the end of the 19th century, when conservation efforts began. William Hornaday founded the American Bison Society in 1905. The Society, with Theodore Roosevelt as its honorary president, reintroduced bison in small herds in various parts of the country. Congress took action to protect the bison, zoos started breeding programs, and ranchers started creating small herds. American bison numbers are currently back up to over half a million. Some 30,000 of those are in conservation herds, the rest are kept as livestock. Several Native tribes are leading the way in the recovery of the American bison, by managing herds on lands where bison are protected, and working to promote protection. (Smithsonian Zoological Park Conservation Institute 2014).

“Hornaday with Baby Bison at the Smithsonian,” 1886. “William Temple Hornaday, Chief Taxidermist of the United States National Museum from 1882, Curator of the Department of Living Animals, and the first Superintendent of the National Zoological Park, with a baby bison known as Sandy, probably on the grounds adjoining the Smithsonian Castle. This is probably the bison calf that Hornaday brought back from his 1886 summer field trip to Montana. The calf lived only a short time.” Smithsonian Archives - History Division

American Bison in Smithsonian Collections:

Due to the bison being an integral part of Native American life, history, and culture, our collections here at NMNH and Smithsonian-wide are composed of a variety of bison-related objects. The archaeological record shows us how the bison was not only used for food but for tools, clothing, and shelter. Preserved artifacts made from bison bone tell us how Plains natives used the skeleton of the bison to make tools for farming, hide preparation, sewing, hunting, and more!

Bison bones form a large part of the archaeological record from the Plains cultures. Lotte is pictured here pointing to the skeleton of a bison on display in the Bone Hall at National Museum of Natural History. Photo: Kendra Young.

Because bones are a strong and sturdy material (in addition to the large size and quantity in a skeleton), we have a lot of bone tools in our archaeological collections. For example, the collection we are currently cataloging, the Larson Collection, has about 1,000 bison bone tools. In case you missed our blog post about these bone tools, they represent how a farming community, from about the 18th century in what is today South Dakota, utilized the bison skeleton.

A drawer of bison bone artifacts from the Larson Collection in storage at the Museum Support Center in Suitland, Maryland. Photo: Kendra Young.

A thong stropper made of bison scapula bone from the Larson Collection. This tool was used for hide stretching. Photo: Kendra Young.

A bison rib bone from the Larson Collection made into a wrench for smoothing arrow shafts. Photo: Kendra Young.

In addition to archaeological objects, we have in our collections various items showing the cultural and social significance of the American Bison to our Nation’s history. These objects can tell us characteristics of the peoples who used them so anthropologists can study relationships and differences across cultures. Here are some of our favorite objects from the collections:

Late 19th century buffalo coat. “According to legend, this coat was made from the skin of a buffalo killed by Buffalo Bill, and presented by him to Captain J. B. Irvine, Twenty-second U.S. Infantry. Irvine then presented it to Second Lieutenant Albert C. Dalton, Company A, U.S. Infantry.” National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center. Accession number 191694.

Roan Eagle drawing of group of bison with calf, and drawing of hunting scene, with men on horseback with rifles pursuing bison. From Roan Eagle Book of Drawings, 1880. National Anthropological Archives. NAA INV 8528107.

Outside (literally) of the bison-related objects at Smithsonian museums, there are two live bison you can visit at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park! American Bison have a long history with the National Zoo, in fact they were some of the first species to be exhibited back in 1887 when the animals were kept on the National Mall. In celebration of the National Zoo’s 125th anniversary in 2014, two female American Bison named Zora and Wilma came to the zoo. If you are in the Washington, D.C. area, we recommend you give Zora and Wilma a visit and wish them a Happy National Bison Day.

As you can see from this post, the American Bison has had a huge impact on our nation’s history and culture and subsequently has impacted our museum collections. Therefore, it is no surprise that it has become our National Mammal. From us at Rogers Archaeology Lab, Happy National Bison Day!

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References:

Hornaday, William T. The Extermination of the American Bison. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002.

Isenberg, Andrew C. The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

10/28/2014

We participated in #AskACurator Day on Twitter on September 17, 2014. Did you miss the conversation? I created a Storify of each Curator's hour on Twitter, which you can read by clicking on the links at the end of this post. Enjoy!

Hey everyone! Thanks for participating with us in Ask A Curator Day on Twitter last week! Over 700 museums all around the world participated; wow! We had a great time answering your questions. All five curators who participated with us @ArchaeologyLab were new to Twitter, and enjoyed seeing how it worked. In order to facilitate the conversation without each one having to become an expert at Twitter, I sat with each curator during their hour and helped them craft their answers down to a "twitter-able" size. At the beginning a few expressed doubt that they would be able to get their answers into the right format, but by the end of the hour all of the curators were growing more confident and enjoying sharing their answers with you!

It was especially fun for me to have an hour to chat with them in person, even if I was busy transcribing the stories they were telling me! For example, while we were waiting for a question, I asked Sabrina Sholts how she had gotten tapped for such an interesting project as CT scanning a wet-specimen gorilla her first week here! It all happened because she came in during one snowy day when almost no one else was in (she moved here from Sweden and is from Minnesota; DC snow does not scare her!) only to find a fellow Scandinavian, Bruno Frohlich, also in the office. After I had written down her story while she talked, I showed her how we can break up stories like this into separate tweets, and tell a longer story live on Twitter.

Later in the afternoon with Dennis Stanford, I was laughing with delight as he detailed the complex partnerships that enabled him to pursue his research goals in an amazing experimental archaeology project. It involved butchering an elephant (Ginsberg died of natural causes at the Boston Zoo, and his body was donated to the Smithsonian) with only bone and stone tools, like our ancestors in the paleolithic would have done, to better understand wear patterns on ancient tools. It read like a joke: so an archaeologist, a NASA engineer, and an FBI ballistics analyst walk into a bar... Seriously amazing.

From Ives Goddard, I learned about his amazing work on the Meskwaki Dictionary (you can listen to him read a translation of a Meskwaki story here). During Igor Krupnik's hour, we all got to hear about his "wow" moment during fieldwork in the Arctic. Bill Billeck shared some interesting stories about the repatriation process and Sitting Bull. I could go on, but I will let you read for yourself; don't forget to click on the storify links for each Curator's hour below!

By the end of the day, I was exhausted. I had barely left my desk all day, and my fingers were getting clumsy on the keyboard, but it didn't matter. I had such a great time working to share these amazing people and their stories with you on Twitter. It is one of the reasons that I love working here, we have great people with fascinating passions that they love to share. We hope you enjoyed talking with us. Remember, here at the Smithsonian, every day is Ask a Curator Day. You can follow many of the scientists and departments here at NMNH on Twitter.

03/11/2014

These “seal skin baby pants” were brought to my attention by Jenya Anichenko, who is a postdoctoral Fellow from the Anchorage Museum of Art in Dr. Fitzhugh’s office in the Arctic Studies Center at the National Museum of Natural History. She was working out at the Museum Support Center (MSC) near our usual spot in the collection storage pod, where we do all of our cataloguing on the River Basin Survey collections. Jenya was actually at MSC to study indigenous skin boats, and came across these baby pants instead, which were collected with other materials that were of interest to her research.

The seal skin baby pants were found in an archaeological context in Point Barrow, Alaska, by James A. Ford ca. 1936, according to the handwritten tag on the artifact. The culture is identified as Eskimo, and the locality information says it was found under the entrance to an underground house. The Eskimos identified here would be the ancestral group to the modern Inupiat people of Barrow. Within the National Museum of Natural History, the accession number of the baby pants is 242284, and the catalog number is A401629.

Rear view of the seal skin baby pants, Catalog number A401629, National Museum of Natural History. Photo Credit: Meghan Mulkerin

A publication by Ford about his archaeological work in Alaska can be downloaded here. The baby pants are featured on page 219 in that book, figure 106b, b1. An excerpt reads:

“Birnirk: … In this same locality a pair of child's pants was found (Fig. 106b, b'). These are for a waist about 64 cm. in circumference and are well made of sealskin, with the fur turned inside. The doubled, triangular portion of the garment which passes between the legs is made of brown sealskin; the leg openings are tastefully edged with light-colored skin strips. A de-haired and bleached sealskin strip sewed around the waist carries a braided sinew drawstring that ties in front.” (Ford 1959:220)

These baby pants are unique, in that it is very rare to have the evidence in hand of infant care in ancient times (Bill Fitzhugh, Curator of Archaeology and Director, Arctic Studies Center identifies the Birnirk site as dating to ca. 800-1000 AD). The pants clearly demonstrate a large degree of care and love for the infant for whom they were made. It is made of several different kinds of fur, carefully stitched in multiple pieces, and held on with a draw-string cord.

Interior view of the multiple types of fur that were used in making this article of clothing. Seal skin baby pants, A401629, National Museum of Natural History. Photo Credit: Meghan Mulkerin.

It is evident that they were made to fit well. However, these pants are not a diaper! I was disabused of this idea by our ethnology curator, Igor Krupnik. I went to his office to inquire about it, and he was able to pull a reference off of his shelf in under a minute and flip straight to the page on diapering practices among the Chukchee, who are a tribe in the same cultural area, on the Russian (Siberian) side of the Chukchi Sea. Ask a curator! What he showed me was that diapers would generally have been made from reindeer moss, hair and possibly wood shavings. The arrangement was so effective that “this diaper with moss has been adopted by all the tribes of north-eastern Siberia, including the Russians, because of its practical convenience” (Bogoras 1909:252).

Figure 184: Infant's Dress, in Bogoras 1909:252. "The sleeves and breeches have no openings at all, so that the child's feet and hands are kept warm inside. A square diaper (ma'ki) is sewed on at the back. It can be tucked between the child's legs, and its ends fastened in front by strings. With small infants this diaper is filled with reindeer-moss and hair, which absorbs the excreta and is changed several times a day" (Bogoras 1909:252). Dr. Krupnik clarifies that the area where the diaper is attached is open to the air so the baby basically remains dressed while the diaper is changed.

However, Bill Fitzhugh confirmed my suspicion that around the house, where very little clothing is worn due to the warmth, these pants might function somewhat similarly to the rubber pants we put over babies’ diapers, with the moss being packed inside, and changed. It’s easy to imagine an active baby or toddler quickly shedding the contraption seen in the image above when left to its own devices in the house. Not so if these little pants were on over it! “Small boys up to about three years of age, walking around with the strings of this diaper untied and dragging in the snow, is a familiar sight in Chukchee or Koryak camps.” (Bogoras 1909:252) Loin-breeches very similar to these so called baby pants, were worn by men and women within their homes.

Loin-breeches, Fig. 185 in Bogoras 1909:253.

For more information on James A. Ford, you can read the finding guide to his papers in the National Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian, which is also located at the Museum Support Center. JSTOR also has an article on his life, published in American Antiquity.

We hope this gives you an interesting glimpse into the kinds of things our collections can reveal! Let us know if you have questions.

I am continually amazed by all of the talented people we have working at this museum. There are so many interesting stories and discoveries made here, but the stories of the people who uncover them are just as fun to hear about. Since it is Women’s History Month, I thought it would be a great idea to interview the women of the Department of Anthropology, and have them tell you more about themselves and their work. So far, I’ve talked with two amazing scientists, Melinda Zeder, Senior Research Scientist and Curator of Old World Archaeology and Archaeozoology; and Kari Bruwelheide, Museum Specialist in Skeletal Biology. Both women have shown me that they share similar experiences and outlooks, even though their research has taken them into very different (but complementary) specialties within anthropology.

In their interviews, both Melinda Zeder and Kari Bruwelheide underscored that the Smithsonian has incomparable collections and resources for research that continue to yield discoveries into the present day; both have found the Smithsonian a very supportive workplace for women scientists to grow in; having kids while doing science can be challenging but rewarding; and both want to go to Antarctica someday! This last commonality may seem random, but I think it represents the far-reaching goals of the kinds of people who come to work here. They always want to go to unexplored places, both in the world and of the mind. Both are problem-solvers, who take their work to the edges of the discipline, and push its boundaries farther as they make new discoveries. In short, the women scientists of the Smithsonian are seriously amazing, and I can’t wait to hear more of their stories.

While we work on typing up the interviews, please submit any questions you have about the work of our female scientists (including linguists, physical anthropologists, cultural anthropologists, and archaeologists), museum collections management professionals, archivists, and others here in the Department of Anthropology. In the meantime, I will continue to talk to a variety of the women who work here, and continue to share their insights with you. Stay tuned!

Until then, can you name this historical Smithsonian anthropologist? Tweet us your answer @archaeologylab, or comment below! Bonus points for naming her major research focus!

08/15/2013

Archaeology is a frustrating discipline at times. Its public perception is hampered by films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which have presented the public with fantastic, sensationalized, and incorrect images of what archaeologists actually do. Whenever I tell people that I study archaeology, they constantly exclaim, “Oh you want to be like Indiana Jones?” or “We have our own Lara Croft in here, haha.” I do an inward “palm-to-the-face” each and every time because archaeology is not about treasure hunting, or, for that matter, destroying the structures and artifacts we are supposed to be analyzing. A culture or society is not defined by its shiniest and most expensive objects. One has to remember that it is people who we are studying and their relationships with each other and with their world, their material culture being a reflection of those relationships. Over the years, I have come to learn that frequently the most mundane-looking artifacts can reveal the greatest amount of information and the most significant facets of a culture or site.

Like Meghan mentioned in the previous post, I am studying the gendered use of “quill flatteners” from the Cattle Oiler site (39ST224). I use the quotation marks because scholars are still in disagreement as to what they are. Their simplicity in construction and similarities to other tool types have produced a number of hypotheses in this regard. The lack of ethnographic data on Hidatsa and Mandan people makes it all the more challenging to ascertain what role these objects played in their lives. Furthermore, modern ethnographic literature on the tribes also lacks references to quill flatteners, thus adding to the mystery behind their presence at Cattle Oiler.

Examples of Quillwork in Native American Objects. Left: Quillwork bag from the National Museum of the American Indian, catalog number 5/3105. Right: Quillwork cradle from the National Museum of Natural History, collected by George Catlin, catalog number E73311-0.

My first research task was to determine their true function. A tall and sometimes frustrating order, I must admit, since even seasoned archaeologists have not been able to determine this (Lehmer 1971: 88). However, I like a good challenge so I pressed on. As mentioned above, the Hidatsa and the Mandan are not known to have utilized quill flatteners. Instead, their use has been attributed to the Arikara, Sioux, Arapaho, Blackfeet, and Menominee, of which there are both archaeological specimens and ethnographic data (Orchard 1916: 101-102, Skinner 1921: 275). Archaeologists have labeled these prehistoric objects quill flatteners due to their close resemblances to these historical specimens (Lehmer 1971: 88). As the name suggests, quill flatteners did just that – flatten quills, specifically porcupine quills – during the process of quillwork crafting. In the Menominee tradition, the quills were flattened after they were sewn into the leather (Skinner 1921: 275). In other North American tribes, the artist would take the tool, manufactured from either bone or antler, and glide it along the length of a softened quill in preparation for embroidery (Orchard 1916: 9). In my search to ascertain their true identity, I initially aimed to read through Hidatsa and Mandan ethnographies and modern quillwork practices in the hope that I would find something the other archaeologists missed. However, I was going nowhere. There really was nothing that could help me. Fortunately, I began to take more seriously the descriptions and images of other bone tools from the Middle Missouri because I noticed the stylistic affinities those tools had to my quill flatteners. Thereafter, I explored the possibility that they were one and the same, the only difference being their perceived functions.

There was brief mention of quill flatteners as multifunctional tools (Lehmer 1971: 88). It bears noting that archaeologists have an unfortunate tendency to ascribe singular functions to the artifacts they excavate; it is a practice that stems from the cultural-historical approach to archaeology and that method’s desire to classify and categorize. I try to avoid making analogies between the modern day and the past, but it is highly conceivable that bygone peoples may have employed tools for various purposes. Upon comparing the shape, wear, and composition of “bone markers,” “bone spatulas/spatulates,” “bone pottery tools,” and “bone flaking tools,” quill flatteners, then, could have been used for either flattening quills, marking leather, incising pottery rims, or flaking stone. The objects attributed with these functions appear stylistically similar. See for yourself and compare Figures 1, 2, and 3.

In addition to their physical parallels, a trip to the Smithsonian’s collections storage and conservation facility in Suitland, Maryland substantiated Wheeler’s argument that quill flatteners were used for pottery rim decorating (Wheeler 1956:18). Based on the material culture from the Breeden site (39ST16), he opined that the ends of the flattener-like objects fit the incisions on rims with diagonal punctuations. I did the same with the quill flatteners and flattener-like bone tools from the Cattle Oiler collection. And low-and-behold, they fit! See my examination in action in Figure 4.

Soon after I made the decision to investigate quill flatteners, I became worried that my choice would not yield enough information, however, I was so wrong. And this is where the gender comes in. I am, after all, studying the GENDERED use of quill flatteners.

"Using Smoother on Quills", from the collections of the National Museum of the American Indian. Catalog Number N13627, glass plate negative, date created: 1902.

At Mobridge (39WW1), there was a distinct difference between the burial goods in male and female internments (Wedel 1955). A number of the females were buried with bone spatulas, often by the head. Meanwhile, the men lacked this implement for the most part. Despite the clear sexual demarcation of this tool, two males were interred with bone spatulate tools, one in cemetery 1 (out of 30 burials) and the other in cemetery 3 (out of 6). Although it could be argued that the bone implements could have accidentally found their way into the burial, the bone spatulate with the male in cemetery 3 appears to have been intentionally placed there. It was located behind the head, the same place where the bone spatulate was laid in the female burial in the same cemetery. This apparent intentionality had me thinking as to why a seemingly feminine object was with this male and what that could possibly tell us about his life.

During my research, I encountered an intriguing North American Indian practice. I learned of the existence of berdaches, or two-spirit people. These were men and women who adopted the occupations, roles, and occasionally dress of the opposite sex. Unlike many outlier genders in modern societies, they were not outcasts, but rather recognized as third or fourth genders and participated in the economics and rituals of the 150 tribes known to have practiced this (Gilchrist 1999: 60). This is what makes them unique and fascinating. They were considered gender transformers and gender mixers (Arnold 2002: 245); there was no stigma associated with them, enhancing their status not diminishing it (Roscoe 1988: 144). As some individuals became berdaches after having visions or after Holy Women had visions of them (Callender et al. 1983: 447-451), they had a spiritual association and thus were respected since Plains tribes were vision-complex cultures where instructions had to be followed (Roscoe 1996: 351).

Figure 5. A Navajo berdache on the right (Roscoe 1994: 333)

The Mobridge males buried with the spatulates could have possibly been berdaches. Mobridge is an Arikara site and the Arikara were one of the 150 tribes to recognize the berdache status, as were the Hidatsa and Mandan (Callender et al 1983: 445). The males, if they were berdaches, would have actively participated in craftwork and the domestic realm, the sphere in which quill flatteners are associated (Roscoe 1996: 333). It is possible that berdaches could have lived at Cattle Oiler though there is no firm evidence of this. Nevertheless, the existence of berdaches presents the issue when genderizing any object. Instead of looking at material culture and society through a binary lens, archaeologists should acknowledge the potential for a greater complexity in social composition as was the case with North American Indian tribes. Not only should they allow for multifunctionality in objects, but also for the use of those objects by multiple genders or social groups. Doing so would open new avenues of research for that site or culture and lead to a well-rounded perspective on the many ways society can be constructed.

Ahler, Stanley. and Falk, Carl. 2002. Unmodified Bone and Antler Remains at Scattered Village. Research Report. The Prehistory on First Street NE: The Archaeology of Scattered Village in Mandan, North Dakota. PaleoCultural Research Group.

Orchard, William C. 1916. The Technique of Porcupine Quill-Decoration Among the North American Indians. Vol. 4. Contributions from the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York.

Roscoe, Will. 1988 We’wha and Klah the American Indian Berdache as Artist and Priest. American Indian Quarterly 12(2): 127–150.

Roscoe, Will. 1996. How to Become a Berdache: Toward a Unified Analysis of Gender Diversity. In Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History, edited by Gilbert Herdt, pp. 329–371. Zone Books, New York.

Skinner, Alanson. 1921. Material Culture of the Menomini. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.

04/29/2013

The nomads of Mongolia and surrounding areas are no strangers to travel, and are well acquainted with influence from overarching powers, but curiously, regardless of modern influences, contemporary pastoralism in Mongolia has maintained a high level of continuity with ancient practice (Bold 1996). Through the strong preservation of ancient customs, Mongolian pastoralists are an important resource for ethnographers and socio-cultural anthropologists, as well as archaeologists. As archaeologists strive to uncover more information about Mongolia’s past, ethnographic studies have become an increasingly important factor contributing to their research, since many modern Mongolians still continue to live a nomadic pastoralist lifestyle and maintain many of the traditions that their ancestors had. As archaeological research becomes increasingly region oriented, specific ethnographic information is needed in order to provide viable comparisons between archeological data and present day ethnic groups.

Luckily, ethnographic research within Mongolia has increased in recent times and helps to suppliment the older sources (Kradin 2005; Honeychurch 2008; Fijn 2011). Several important ethnographic studies includes those by Simukov, Vainshtein, Fernández-Giménez, and Fijn spans from 1934 through 2011 and each ethnographer provides research pertaining to a different aspect of Mongolian pastoralism, each reflecting the predominant socio-cultural views of the time periods in which they were written. Simukov, Vainshtein, Fernández-Giménez, and Fijn all provide data related to Mongolian pastoralism that that can be analyzed in the archaeological record. Integrating the results of both ethnographic and archaeological research can foster greater interdisciplinary discussion of the purpose, presence and prevalence of pastoralist communities in Mongolia, past through present.

Our story begins with …drum roll please… Andrei Dmitriyevich Simukov! This Russian geologist conducted ethnographic field work on pastoralists in Mongolia, which is wonderful; he has lots of great descriptions and charts…except, it’s published mostly in Russian and well, your authors can’t read Russian, so we will have to rely on the portions of his text that were translated into English.

Simukov’s articles in the journal “Contemporary Mongolia” published in 1935, provide detailed graphs relating to the nitty-gritty details of pastoralist practices according to region. This information is beneficial to archaeologists excavating within those specific regions, because they can compare the information they are finding about the past to modern practices through Simukov’s data. Simukov’s data specifically defines the amount of livestock per household as well as the number of times a household moved within a given year. Simukov also recognizes that environmental factors influence sustainability. A significant portion of his study is dedicated to the different "zones" of Mongolia from steppe to mountains. This is especially useful for researchers who may be unfamiliar with the Mongolian environment. His description gives insight into the challenges pastoralists must face in order to make responsible decisions, especially within particular regions. Although helpful, one must be wary of Simukov's neatly delineated categorizations.

Simukov was interested in grouping people, regions, and practices into "types." For Simukov, there existed different types of people, who lived in different regions, and who practiced different types of pastoralism. He formats his writing very much according to these types with a detailed description following each type heading. Although Simukov’s method is immensely useful in demonstrating the scope of ethnic and cultural diversity, one should proceed with caution. Married women who live in Connecticut are not all the Stepfordwives, with perfectly manicured nails and cookies baking in the oven, and Mongolian nomads are not all practicing cookie cutter methods of pastoralism. No one household follows the exact practices Simukov describes, and there is no guarantee that every household follows the same methods every year. On the whole, Simukov's research, particularly the raw data, not only provides detailed descriptions, but also leaves room for interpretation.

Another notable ethnographic study was conducted by ecologist María Fernández Giménez. Her study primarily focuses on communities in Bayan-Ovoo and Jinst Sums, Bayankhongor Aimag; Mongolia. She extensively addresses the different environments of Mongolia in her research integrating the discussion of environment into the lives of the pastoralists. As an ecologist, Fernández Giménez is interested in how people and the environment interact. This is a two-way street and she recognizes this by stating how people influence the environment and vice versa. Her approach is interdisciplinary, with fields ranging from anthropology to sociology. This interdisciplinary approach coupled with the use of direct quotations (albeit translated to English) from her interviews lends a personal quality as well as validity to her research.

Cultural diversity is implied through discussion of Simukov's types, but it is actually demonstrated through Fernández Gimenez’s interviews. She is also concerned with the cultural transference of knowledge to younger generations, which is useful to archaeologists interested in tracking cultural transmission through time.

Sevyan Vainshtein is a Russian anthropologist who discusses the economy of the nomadic pastoralists of Tuva, a region on the borders of Mongolia in Russia. Vainshtein’s goal was to provide an accurate and detailed field record documenting the economy of Inner Asian nomads. This particular topic is invaluable to archaeologists studying the generational transference of wealth amongst pastoralist communities in Mongolia. Vainshtein’s documentation may also be valuable to the debate concerning inequality among Inner Asian pastoralists addressed in recent literature by David Sneath and criticized by others such as, Nikolay Kradin and Peter Golden, but that is a subject for an entire blog post unto itself. Migrating back to the topic of ethnographers…

Sources written in English about Mongolian herders are limited, but ethnographers such as Natasha Fijn are contributing to this literature. In the recently released book, Living with Herds: Human Animal Coexistence in Mongolia (2011), Fijn notes she was unfortunately “unaware of any other work written in English that has examined the importance of herd animals, specifically ungulates, to nomadic pastoralist Mongolia” (2011: 17).

Fijn conducted most of her ethnographic research in 2005 while living with Mongolian herders in the Bulgan province around the Khujerin River Valley and in Arkhangai province. She sought to observe the process of animal domestication within current hybrid communities focusing on social behaviors between humans and other animals (2011: 17). This dynamic approach to interpretation and theory is particularly interesting for archaeologists that have traditionally held the perspective of domestication as solely a one-way street and not necessarily an interaction or conversation of sorts between man and animal. Fijn's approach, like most anthropologists, is interdisciplinary, providing a more holistic understanding of life on the Mongolian steppe.

Mongolian herders. 2011. Photo: J. Daniel Rogers

The graph below (see below to download) demonstrates the ethnographic evidence related to herd and population dynamics in Inner Asia. The graph is organized by country and region, including ethnographic studies from the Southern Gobi to the northern grassland steppe. The average household and herd sizes of various nomadic populations, as well as the frequency of their movement across the landscape are also noted.

Pastoralist Household and Herding Data by Region Based on Ethnographic Data. Data compiled for NSF-funded project, Agent-Based Dynamics of Social Complexity (BCS-0527471).Click here to Download Table.

Ethnographic research continues to assist archaeologists in understanding past societies through many avenues of research, from fieldwork to lab analysis and even computer simulation models. Yes-- even computer simulation models. Agent-based computer simulation models such as HouseholdsWorld (Cioffi-Revilla et al. 2007; Cioffi-Revilla et al. 2010; Rogers et al. 2012) alas do not provide an escape from reality as a video game would, but in fact provide something much more useful: comparable data. Computer simulation models utilize data from ethnographers, archaeologists, climatologists, paleo-biologists and many other scientists in order to create a simulated Mongolian social world, where various variables can be controlled in order to run experiments to examine how social and environmental factors are related to change and adaptation. In other words, every bit of research is important and key to understanding the entire picture!

Allard, Francis. 2006. Investigating the Bronze Age of Khanuy Valley, Central Mongolia. In New Research Directions in Eurasian Steppe Archaeology: The Emergence of Complex Societies in the Third to First Millennia BCE, edited by Bryan Hanks and Kathy Linduff. Department of Anthropology & Center for Russian and East European Studies, Pittsburgh.

Erdenebaatar, Diimaajavyn. 2000. Expedition Report on Ethnographic Research conducted in the basin of the Egiin River in Khantai Baga, Khutag-Ondor Soum of Bulgan Aimag. Mongolian Academy of Sciences Institute of History.

03/21/2013

Today we bring you a special treat: a guest post from our colleague, Igor Krupnik, who is an Anthropologist at the National Museum of Natural History. We hope you enjoy reading about his work with the people of Wales, Alaska, to document the many native Inupiaq words for Sea Ice. Yes, there really are over one-hundred Inuit words for sea ice! - Meghan Mulkerin, Rogers' Archaeology Lab.

In October 2012, the Arctic Studies Center (ASC) released its new heritage publication, Kingikmi Sigum Qanuq Ilitaavut – Wales Inupiaq Sea Ice Dictionary, an illustrated bilingual catalog of traditional Inupiat knowledge about sea ice and change in the North Alaska-Bering Strait region. The 112-page ‘dictionary’ is a product of a four-year partnership of a small team of indigenous Elders, language experts, and scientists, under the leadership of Winton Weyapuk, Jr., a whaling captain from Wales, Alaska, and Smithsonian Anthropologist, Igor Krupnik (see ASC Newsletter 16, 2009). Several other partners, including local Wales Elders Pete Sereadlook and Faye Ongtowasruk, the late Herbert Anungazuk, originally from Wales, were instrumental in the preparation of the ‘Wales Sea Ice dictionary,’ as were also sea ice scientists Hajo Eicken and MatthewDruckenmiller ofthe University of Alaska Fairbanks, linguist Lawrence Kaplan, also of UAF, anthropologist Carole Zane Jolles, and others.

Wales/Kingigin, Alaska, population 160, is the northwesternmost community in North America, located on the shores of Bering Strait, right across from the northeastern edge of Siberia. One can really ‘view Russia’ on a clear day from almost any window in Wales, as seen from the photo placed on the dictionary’s cover. The idea to collect traditional Inupiaq sea ice terms in the community of Wales was first discussed in 2006, when Igor secured copies of several historical photographs from Wales taken in 1922 by visiting biologist Alfred M. Bailey, a future director of the Denver Natural History Museum (now, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science). When several dozen of Bailey’s photos were shown to hunters and Elders in Wales, they were amazed by how much the sea ice around their native place had changed due to rapid Arctic warming. Since the Inupiaq language in Wales is now being used by a few senior adults and Elders only, it inspired a cooperative effort in local knowledge and language documentation. It was endorsed by Native Village of Wales and supported via grant from the ‘Shared Beringian Heritage Program’ of the National Park Service and the matching funds from NMNH and the Arctic Studies Center.

Since Inupiaq is not spoken actively in Wales hunting crews these days, Weyapuk carefully prepared the list of traditional Kifikmiut sea ice terms from his youth memories and then cross-checked it with the Elders. He also took over 100 color photos of local ice scenes and ice formations from the shore-fast ice, the nearby mountain, and from a hunting boat. Upon Igor’s suggestion, he inscribed the Native terms for the ice on the photos, so that the readers may view the ice-scape through the eyes of an experienced Inupiat hunter. The Inupiaq-English ice dictionary lists over 100 terms for ice and ice-associated phenomena in the Kifikmiu/Wales dialect, arranged alphabetically and by major groups/types, and with detailed explanations in Inupiaq for major ice terms. Eicken, Druckenmiller, and Anungazuk contributed expanded comments on the ice and ice knowledge in Wales, and Igor added a short story of Alfred Bailey’s sojourn in Wales in spring 1922, as a preface to two dozen black-and-white historical photos from Bailey’s collection at the Denver museum.

‘Wales Sea Ice Dictionary’ was inaugurated at the recent 18th Inuit Studies Conference (24-28 October, 2012) at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. Of the thousand book copies printed, four hundred were shipped directly to Wales for local families, school programs, friends and relatives in Alaska and elsewhere. Kingikmi Sigum Qanuq Ilitaavut is another outcome of the SIKU (Sea Ice Knowledge and Use) project that Igordeveloped and implemented during the International Polar Year 2007–2008, with the support from the National Park Service’s “Shared Beringia Heritage Program” and matching funds from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and NMNH (ASC Newsletters 16, 2009; 17, 2010).

Video of Dr. Krupnik talking about the Sea Ice and Knowledge Use project (SIKU). Source: International Polar Year 2007-2008 website.

In December 2012, the ‘Wales Sea Ice Dictionary’ received an award from the Atmospheric Science Librarians International (ASLI), a professional association of atmospheric science librarians, institutions, and organizations involved in atmospheric research. Each year, ASLI recognizes the best books in all fields of atmospheric sciences out of the pool of several hundred printed annually. The Krupnik-Weyapuk heritage volume was the first ever publication in the social sciences and with a Native Alaskan co-author to be awarded an ‘Honorable Mention,’ as the 2012 ASLI’s ‘Choice in the Reference Category’. The award was given at a special ceremony at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in Austin, TX.

Igor Krupnik recieves ‘Honorable Mention,’ as the 2012 ASLI’s ‘Choice in the Reference Category’. at the 93rdAnnual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in Austin, TX.

The ‘Wales Sea Ice Dictionary’ was enthusiastically welcomed in Wales when the printed books arrived and were disseminated among local families. Winton Weyapuk reported on the reactions of the people in the Wales community, saying:

“…People commented that a dictionary such as this was long overdue and that it was very important to document our Inupiaq language for future generations. One old man said that it may help inspire people to speak more Inupiaq, that books like this are needed, and that we need to preserve our language. Like many Elders he is humble and quiet, but what he said touched my heart. Another young man said he would now study the book to learn the Inupiaq words and how to recognize dangerous sea ice conditions and avoid them. Other people commented that other similar dictionaries with Inupiaq words used every day should be produced. Many people said they enjoyed the photographs, both the contemporary and the historical photos taken in the 1920s. Looking at the pictures side-by-side, our people were able to compare sea ice conditions from the 1920s to what they see today. Our community appreciates all the hard work done by everyone and especially the work done by Igor to bring this project to fruition. We are proud of having such a book produced for the village of Wales, for other researchers, scientists, and extended family and friends everywhere.”

As Weyapuk stated in his Introduction to the Wales Inupiaq Sea Ice Dictionary:

“…It is our hope that our Inupiaq words for sea ice and the English translations we collected here can help young hunters supplement what they have learned in English about sea ice in our area and how the changing ice conditions are affected by winds and currents. It is also our hope that they can learn and begin to use some of the Inupiaq words as a way to teach those younger than themselves. Language, any language, is beautiful in its own way. Inupiaq, because of its construction and its concise description of the natural environment is no less beautiful. It is, in its way, a heartfelt tribute to our Elders who taught us so much. Without their dedication and instruction our life would be dramatically different today. This book can also be seen as praise for our youth who continue our way of life and whom we love deeply. Enjoy this book for what it is.”

02/06/2013

This is the final post in a 5-part series on Dr. Rogers' archaeological fieldwork in Mongolia. See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. To see the ethnographic collection that Dr. Rogers brought back to the Smithsonian, see the post Collections from Mongolia!

Have you ever been camping so long that going back to a city and sleeping in a bed sounds like the most uncomfortable thing in the world? If not, then you haven’t been camping on the spacious plains or in the crisp mountain meadows of Mongolia; you haven’t met the generous and kind herding families of the North Gobi; and perhaps you have never gnawed at boiled goat meat while singing the classics of Mongolian folk music. Try it.

Over a few weeks in the summer of 2002, Erdenebat, Matt, Tuya, Sukhbatar, and I logged over 3,000 kilometers in a Russian mini-van, recorded over 40 archaeological sites, and mapped 23 of them. Along the way we made life-long friendships, and learned a few things about a vast and fascinating country. Even Erdenebat, the kind, tall, soft-spoken, and strong Mongolian archaeologist, whom many say could have had a fine career in wrestling— one of the national sports— had never been to many of the sites we visited.

The rain from our last night in the Egiin Gol valley continued as we drove east to the town of Selenge, had some lunch, and continued on to link up with a paved road—a clear sign of civilization and the end of our explorations. I felt truly depressed. As we drove along watching the kilometers whiz by I remember reaching the edge of a huge open pit copper mine adjacent to the city of Erdenet. The mine produces copper and heavy metals for export to Russia. In fact the city exists to support the mine. Along the edges of the mine I will always remember the clouds of greenish smoke enveloping children tending their herds. In the city we found a hotel that looked more like a semi-abandoned office building. I decided to spread out my dirty sleeping bag rather than come in contact with the grayish sheets on the bed.

A cool rainy day in the mountains and valleys of Northern Mongolia. Photo by J. Daniel Rogers

The next day we finished the drive to Ulaanbaatar (U.B.) and found a hotel for $10.00 a night—a good deal except for one small flaw. In the middle of the night, some drunken men started pounding on our door. Matt and I got ready to fight, but after awhile they went away. I don’t know what they were saying, but in retrospect they were probably just asking us to come have a drink with them. That would be typical Mongolian hospitality. Ulaanbaatar is a sprawling capitol city showing its growing pains. Nearly half of the 2+ million people in Mongolia live in this city that mixes high rises with tents. The entrepreneurial spirit is strong and the streets are chocked with SUVs and taxis. As for me, I will die happy if I never have to drive in Ulaanbaatar. I will always take the challenges of rutted tracks across the desert to the frequent near misses of city driving.

Before departing U.B. we paid a visit to the Black Market and purchased a variety of clothing and household items, the kind of things herding families all over the country have in their tents. The Black Market is the place to go for good prices and the experiences of urban life. For instance, if you have ever thought about having your pocket picked, I recommend the Black Market in U.B. Recognizing the risk in advance, I left most of the project money with Sukhbaatar, a man I now trusted with my life. Sure enough, as we left the market a group of men surrounded me and the wallet was just gone—a classic pick pocket move. I immediately remembered my driver’s license and some credit cards were in the wallet and I became very depressed. The ever practical Tuya shrugged her shoulders and said “what do you expect?” As we stood around the mini-van in the parking lot the wallet came skittering along the ground thrown by someone a few vehicles over. The license and credit cards were still inside, only the cash was gone. I have heard of honorable pick pockets. I was robbed, then given a gift, and everyone was happy.

The Black Market purchases included traditional clothing, pillow cases, woven decorations, food and offering bowls, hand-made picture frames, and many smaller items. All these artifacts are now an official part of the Smithsonian ethnographic collections.

We spent a few more days in U.B. for meetings at the Academy of Sciences and the U. S. Embassy. Then it was time to go. We said our goodbyes to Erdenebat, Tuya, and Sukhbaatar and boarded the Mongolian Airways flight to Beijing. We flew from the clear blue skies of Mongolia into a different scale of city, both challenging and fascinating. A few days later we were in Washington, District of Columbia.

For those following these posts on Mongolia, remember that this all happened more than ten years ago in 2002. On subsequent trips Tuya and Erdenebat worked with us again on more adventures in Mongolia, Korea, and China. My dear friends have done well in their careers over the last 10 years. Erdenebat received his doctorate at Bonn University in Germany and is now Chair of the Anthropology Department at the National University in Mongolia. Tuya received her law degree and went back to work in the State Prosecutor’s Office on international extradition cases. I haven’t seen Sukhbaatar in a long time, but I feel sure I will run into him again behind the wheel of that gray mini-van. Matt went off to graduate school at the University of Michigan and then moved to Thailand with his new wife.

10/16/2012

As a part of his travels to Mongolia, Dr. Rogers surveyed many sites from the empires period, beginning around 200 B.C.. What you may not know, is that he also collected ethnographic objects for the Museum’s collection, consisting of items that would be commonly found in a family home there. One of the things that makes the Smithsonian’s vast collections so useful is the principal that we are a living, collecting museum, and will continue to attempt to represent biodiversity and material culture through time. If we only collected the past, our collections would soon become static. If we wait to collect from a certain time period until 50 years or more has gone by, we will have lost the ability to obtain many objects that have been discarded along the way, because they were not thought to be worth saving or had become obsolete or unfashionable. However, small everyday objects tell us a lot about the people who use them. It is the same reason why trash pits at an archaeological site are studied so intently; oftentimes what we throw away is as interesting as what we keep! Collections that stay alive and follow a culture over time are also incredibly useful when researchers want to compare how people have changed, and what remains of older ways. This is another reason why Dr. Rogers chose to acquire Jeri Redcorn’s pottery for the collection; to represent a culture and tradition over time.

The Mongolian collection includes a variety of items, from clothing, to amazing hats, religious items, decorations, games, and more. My personal favorite is the hat shown below. This hat is commonly worn in the countryside, but would be taken off when entering a ger (or tent) as a sign of respect. The knot on the top symbolizes the endless knot of Buddhism. Quite a fashion statement!

Catalog No. E432899-0 Man's Traditional Hat, "Loovuus".

However, I make no bones about loving the fact that we have this sheep anklebone game! This type of game dates back to early Mongol history. These games are very common, and are often made by the families themselves. The anklebones are used to foretell a person's future, which is read based on the way the bones land -- either in a horse, camel, goat, or sheep fashion. Inside the bag are one red and three naturally colored sheep bones. Luckily, the game includes paper instructions printed in English, and shows the meaning of the rolls.

A more common, but infinitely awesome piece of the collection is this “Chinggis” (Genghis Khan) beer coaster, which represents the enduring place that Genghis Khan has in the hearts and pints of the Mongolian people. Additionally it demonstrates how a country’s past is continually re-used as fodder for identity shaping and money making.

Catalog No. E432881-0 "Chinggis" Beer Coaster.

There are also many different examples of embroidery and clothing, such as this woman’s deel (robe), and this embroidered shelf hanging, depicting twelve animals associated with the Chinese calendrical cycle.

Other objects include butter lamps; a beautiful altar set used to display family pictures and memorabilia; wooden bowls used to drink milk or tea; lovely ceramic bowls used to serve food and drink; and a contemporary man’s hat, which gives you a comparison between the traditional hat seen above and this one, either of which would be worn by a Mongolian man, often with a man’s deel, similar to the woman’s deel seen above.